The Future of Chinese Religions

Abstract

We pose here the question of what future religion has in China. But an answer to this question cannot be offered until other questions are resolved. These include questions about the legacy of the past as well as about the present situation. And these questions are all the more important as the situation in today’s China so contradicts the postulate we have given about harmony and harmonisation. First: to what extent has Chinese culture actually succeeded in harmonising ideas and ideals, beliefs and customs, that have been widely divergent? Second: why has China as a country espoused the radical dialectic of Communism (including class struggle and militant atheism) in the twentieth century, when the historical culture has usually shown a preference for moderation, and for the harmony of opposites? And then: given yesterday’s history and today’s reality, what will tomorrow be like? Is there a future for religion — and for what kind of religion?